Instant Payments (FedNow & RTP) — impact tolerance ≤ 4 hours — ITOL

Impact tolerance: ≤ 4 hours — any time of day, for > 10% of receive-side volume on either rail (illustrative default — trace the derivation, then replace with your own harm analysis)

Definition: 24×7×365 real-time credit transfers over both US instant rails — The Clearing House's RTP network and the FedNow Service — including receive-only and send/receive participation. The archetype, like most super-regionals, joined RTP first and still carries the larger share of its instant volume there. FedNow adds reach and rail redundancy.

Why it is designated: Both instant rails run 24×7 with immediate customer expectation. An outage undermines the instant-payment promise. When the receive side is down, incoming payroll, gig, and disbursement payments stop arriving. FedNow operating procedures expect participants to maintain continuous availability. The RTP Rules carry equivalent participant obligations — and RTP is the rail where the bank's instant volume actually concentrates.